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An abandoned ruin...
THE BISHOP'S PALACE
A
considerable portion of this building survives, but in the last stage
of abandoned ruin. The plan of the palace seems to have resembled the
usual French arrangement of an 'Evéché' surrounding the
cathedral.
On
the southern side of the Cathedral (picture right), there
is a building that was probably built at the end of the Venetian period.
It is a long, rectangular structure, reminiscent of a loggia, like those
in Venetian palaces. This central entrance of the Bishop's Palace is
imposing, with large, round windows on two sides, each about six feet
in diameter. There are stone Venetian coat-of-arms in different parts
of the building. The art historian Camille Enlart suggests that this
building served as an ecclesiastical school for Latin bishops. On the
outside, there is a marble structure, six metres long, with floral and
animal motifs in relief. It was probably brought here from Salamis.
On
the north side of the church the buildings come in a straight
line with its west end, and probably extended in an easterly direction
to form an enclosure round the east end of the cathedral. A narrow courtyard
is thus formed between the north side of the church and the Bishop's
House, and in this court are the remains of a staircase leading up to
a large room or hall on the first floor.
On
the other side towards the main road of the town the upper floor
of the palace has been carried over a row of shops, which are still
in use. The vaulting over these is probably original, but the buildings
have been much patched and altered in subsequent ages. The row of shops
(seven in number) has evidently been formed in the original medieval
wall at some later period with semi-elliptical arches, closed with wooden
doors.
In
the centre may be traced the original entrance to the palace
a pointed arch with a coat of arms above it, on a shield three lions'
heads, 2 and 1. This coat of arms is singularly like the shield on the
gravestone of Bishop De Nabinaux inside the church - perhaps he was
the builder? This row of shops appears at first sight as if comparatively
recent in date, but each one has a small Gothic shield carved in the
keystone which precludes the idea of their being later than the XVIth
century. These ruins have been cleared from the mounds of earth and
débris with which they were choked, but nothing of any interest
was found amongst the rubbish (1908).
Certain
'restorations' to the cathedral were presumably executed about
1884. The structural repairs no doubt were most advantageous, but the
coarsely copied reproductions of XIVth century sculpture are not to
be commended under the circumstances, nor is the hideous green glass
in the restored windows any improvement to the interior. It is not,
however, very difficult to distinguish between the original work of
the west front and the attempts to reproduce crockets, window tracery,
etc., by modern hands. This restoration of 1884 may perhaps account
for the disappearance of parts of the Bishop's Palace for the use of
the stone.
